


Where No Man Has Gone Before

by AspiringArtificer



Series: Star Trek: The Original Series Revisited [2]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:34:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28050237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AspiringArtificer/pseuds/AspiringArtificer
Summary: Starfleet Academy proves to be more of a challenge than Lee anticipated.  Luckily, Gary has his back.
Series: Star Trek: The Original Series Revisited [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2039793





	Where No Man Has Gone Before

**Author's Note:**

> As is often the case with Redshirts (honorary Redshirt in this case) I personally don't feel too sad when they die, so I figured I'd give myself some feels by making Kelso's death at Mitchell's hand actually seem sort of tragic. So Kelso basically got to experience all of the self-consciousness and inadequacy I did in my first year of undergrad. Sorry Lee :/  
> Credit for details on Andorian names and pronoun use are from the Pocket Book novels that expand on Andorian culture and physiology.

At the end of his first month at the academy, Lee Kelso was seriously reconsidering his decision to enlist. In undergrad he’d been in the top ten percent of every class, never stumped by a question in class, the quickest amongst his friends to grasp new concepts. Here, on the second day of his Advanced Orbital Mechanics recitation, once they’d finished with review and moved on the actual course subject, he had looked up from his PADD, completely at a loss on how to even start the first practice set, only to see one of his classmates – Thorva he thinks - animatedly scrawling out equations with her stylus. She - Zha? - seemed to finish and stretched her hands out in front of her, twirling her stylus between her fingers, and glanced up to see him regarding zhar (it’s definitely Zhar, he made sure to take note of the zh’ preceding zhar clan name) and though her expression didn’t shift, her antennae straighten. 

He fixed his face, embarrassed to have been staring so stupidly, and glances at her PADD. 

“Finished already?” He tried to smile lightly, and zhar antennae relaxed and curled in towards each other. Almost smiling, she tilted her head and asked, “Need some help?” 

It had been the same in Propulsion Systems, and in Steller Charting and Navigation. It wasn’t that he’d never struggled before – but he’d never struggled in every single class, especially not when his fellow classmates were exceling. Not all of them – some were more lost than he – but too many of them seemed to complete assignments with an ease he couldn’t fathom. The only engineering class he felt at least reasonably competent in was Fuzzy Logic and Applications, and that was because he’d already covered some of that in one of his math classes back in college. It just didn’t count for enough when he was barely keeping his head above water in his other classes. 

He felt lost, out of his depth, and terribly alone. As he stared into his suite’s bathroom mirror grappling with thoughts and feelings that more and more every day were threatening to overwhelm him, one of his roommates banged on the door, irritably inquired if he was “planning to spend the night in there,” and drove him out. 

He retreated from the first-year dorms and crossed campus to his favorite study lounge, hoping to beat his brain into submission until he completely understood his Propulsion lab. He was expecting it would be empty and was distressed to see that not only was it occupied, but it was occupied by Thorva and her equally if not more brilliant best friend T’ler. Sitting with them was a human he recognized from a few of his classes. He couldn’t remember his name but knew he had already smoothly talked his way into the hearts of quite a few people on campus. Lee was at a loss for what T’ler and Thorva could possibly be doing sitting with him – they didn’t seem his type nor he theirs – when the guy looked up and waved him over. Lee froze for a moment, feeling caught off guard, then shuffled close, though still too awkward to sit. The human didn’t seem at all perturbed by his antisocial behavior, just smiled genially at Lee’s approach, then calmly turned to his companions and said, “This man, Thorva, I’m telling you, he can help. He’s a FLAA expert – right Lee?” 

Lee blinked and started to stutter “Well, I don’t -ah-” 

“Oh, well of course you need to sit down and get a chance to pull your notes out! Where are my manners, take my seat!” He leaped up and gestured to his now vacant seat with an exaggerated gesture that made Lee laugh, Thorva grin and wiggle her antennae, and T’Ler raise a single eyebrow. He proceeded to grab a chair from a nearby table and plop it down next to Lee. 

“Now Lee, my dear man, I’m not sure we’ve been properly introduced. I’m Gary Mitchell, this is Thorva Zh’riqerh, and this is T’Ler, and the three of us are positively stumped on this FLAA homework set. Care to shed some light?” Gary leaned back with an easy smile, and Lee blinked, glanced at the other two occupants at the table, who looked back eagerly at him, and found himself relaxing a bit. 

From then on, Gary Mitchell became his lifeline. Charming and clever, he always found a way to befriend the brightest pupils in each of his classes and barter homework tips and help from them. He was on a first name basis with all the TAs, and had quickly gotten Lee up to speed on all their schedules. He was delighted to learn that Lee was in the navigation track, as he himself was hoping to become a pilot, and began signing up for piloting sims together. He brought him out on happy hour, invited him to the best Engineering dorm ragers, and best of all, helped him regain his self-confidence. The end of that first semester saw him in the top third of all of his classes, and with a group of friends to support him, Gary at the center. Maybe Starfleet hadn’t been such a bad idea after all, Lee decided happily – as long as there were people like Gary in it. 

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea what the curriculum for an Ops Officer/Navigator would be at the Academy, so I made some classes up and stole some from actual engineering classes. I have never taken Fuzzy Logic and Applications but if there's one thing I learned in school it's that we call some classes by silly acronyms, so I don't feel like the students using the word FLAA for the class is totally out there, as ridiculous as it sounds.


End file.
